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On 9/24/2002 2

21 PM NWA/AMT wrote:
One of the things I find most interesting about these discussions is that no one ever addresses the question of whether the part that failed was original equipment or not. I guess that might interfere with whichever agenda you're trying to advance. I get the feeling that most would be quite surprised at just how new some of these old aircraft are, and how old some of the parts on the new aircraft are.
Just for the record: The landing gear in question was not original equipment, nor was the gear attach fitting it's bolted to, nor, most likely, was the structure that the fitting is attached to. All were quite probably fabricated and installed AFTER some of the newer aircraft they're being compared with.
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How many of these parts are manufactured, and how many are rebuilt? I'd assume that most of the unique parts on a DC-9, DC-10, 727, F-100 and even MD-80, are no longer manufactured. When UAL parked the 727s and 737-200s I think P&W bought the extra engines to be parted out Unfortuantely, there is BIG money to be made if you can sell a bad (ovetemped, overstressed) part as a rebuilt part. Some manufacturing defects get missed on NEW parts, so I'm sure it's not entirely impossible for a cracked part to go unnoticed in the resale market. Not a reflection on the AMTs, but on what they have to work with.